Lulu's Blog

I cannot say that I haven't struggled while reading Song of Soloman . Morrison dropped us straight into a scene with little to no context. What I find most difficult is to keep track of all the characters and their relationships with each other. Although this seems like a very minor difficulty, it makes it very hard to mend together pieces of information we are given as readers. Additionally, when we hear different characters views, it is difficult to understand who's is the truth. I made a list of all the characters along with their nicknames and I constructed a family tree showing me every character's relation with the others. I find it very helpful to reference this list when I get mixed up or forget the characters. Further, I found that it is important that we analyze character behavior and decide if they are or are not a reputable source of information for the reader. These were a few of my greatest challenges I have encountered so far in the novel and the stratagies...

I have always dreaded my name. Luise. Nora. Christov. Bakargiev. What a mouthful. Regardless, the name carries so much history, and with that, family pride. My name comes solely from my dad’s side of the family, who immigrated here through Ellis Island from Germany and Italy in the early 1900’s. Luise, my first name, was the name of my great grandmother, my paternal grandmother’s mother from Germany. Nora, my middle name, was the name of my great grandmother, my paternal grandfather's mother from Italy. In contrast, my surnames carry much more history that date many decades further back. My family’s original last name is Bakargiev, a name that is often cut off of my official records, passports, and transcripts, yet this is the name that has been carried for generations. My commonly known last name, Christov, is just an adopted name that originated as an adopted name from one of my relatives paternal figure. For example, one of my distant great grandfather's name was Chis, an...

Technology. It is medically lifesaving, innovation encouraging, and just plain entertaining. But what we consider one of our greatest inventions could be doing more damage than we know. Scrolling through an article with your thumb seems very useful when you are catching up on news, but it is proven to tire your eyes and be very distracting. This is a fact we already know. What many may have failed to acknowledge, is the strain it is putting on our "basic" abilities. As a result of our ability to "skim" through articles with our technology, we can be causing a lack of attention and complete understanding in our reading. Many people will come across an article and decide that it is too long and move on all together. We, ourselves, may be hindering our own understanding with our lack of attention span and blatant laziness. Additionally, when reading from a device it can be easy to lose your place and become distracted. When it is necessary to reference a book, studen...

Junior year of  high school: intensified academics, hours of standardized testing, college essays, and high social demands. Undoubtably, it is an extremely stressful time for teenagers with already a lot of their shoulders. Adding onto that, to receive test scores that most elite colleges require, one must attend hours of EXPENSIVE test prep costing at an average of $1000 commercially. Recently, there has been extensive research regarding the effects of this test prep and why it needs to be so costly. Many are arguing that the cost for this  necessary prep should not only be reduced but should be free.   There are a few online prep options like Khan Academy, but the majority of test prep programs can be unaffordable. Many are arguing that if this issue regarding the price of test prep cannot be solved that these standardized tests should be removed altogether. It becomes an issue that colleges and testing are unfairly biased towards wealth...

       For years and years now, schools have enforced dress codes to reduce "distractions" in the classroom. They don't want a kid's graphic tee with an inappropriate message causing chaos, and they don't want students to focus on a classmate's outfit instead of focusing on their academic lesson.           But in recent years, dress code scandals have gained attention and the controversial to pic has been trending in the past months. According to Newsela article " School dress codes face censure around the country for biased rules ," t here is concern that dress code is being enforced solely to girls, and has become a sexist matter. Every day, girls are sent home from school, given detentions and suspensions, or are humiliated in class for their outfits.  A video regarding the dress code policy made by Marcus High School  in Texas caused outrage  and controversy over sexism still being prevalent in schools.  ...